If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,
then it's quite possible that on the Web, no one has been flattered more
often than the Onion. There are at least 15 sites, possibly more, that
use the satirical news/fake headline format to lampoon everything from
the politics to sports to the "area man."

The Onion.

The Funyun.

Why so many when the Onion seems to do so well? First, it's relatively
easy to create news satire content: Who hasn't thought up an Onion-like
headline? More importantly, because many of the site

owners don't think the Onion covers the entire potential audience.

Brian Briggs, editor of bbspot.com,
says he began his site in April 2000 because "couldn't find anything
that I found truly funny on the Internet." Now, he says his site
fills a void.

"What sets us apart is that we focus on geeky topics as opposed
to the general audience that The Onion appeals to," Biggs said.

Many of the Onion's lookalikes have found a great deal of success. BBspot
has been Biggs full-time job since January 2003, made possible by what
he says are 1.5 to 2 million page views a month. "We put out a variety
of quality humor on a consistent basis," he said.

Though the Onion declined to be interviewed for this story, last February
one writer did provide an insight into how they view their imitators:
they want them to fuck off.

"When I hear about people who want to write for The Onion, I'm just
kind of like, 'Do your own damn thing! Develop your own voice!'"
Onion writer Maria Schneider told Mediabistro.com.
"And the huge amount of parody news that has come up in reaction
to The Onion -- I guess this sounds bitchy, but I don't really think they
have a reason to exist... When I hear about The Onion having imitators,
I just think, 'Why? Do us one better. Think of something else that we
haven't thought of.'"

Satire site editors tend to bristle when they're told they copy the Onion's
formula. Bill Doty, editor of BrokenNewz.com,
said that when he first read the comment from Schneider, he was steamed
at first, "then it just made me pity her."

"I believe anyone who has their own site is finding their own voice,"
said Doty, who has also turned his site into a full-time job and estimates
his sites averages a million page views a month.

Like The Onion, Just Differenter.

The Onion has inspired a ton of imitators and pretenders to the fake
news throne. Here's a look at some of 'em, on a scale of one Funyun (worst)
to five Funyuns (best).

Sportsgoons
-- "Clemens and Pettitte Take Next Step, Move in Together"

"Eventually The Onion will need someone young and in touch. [Schneider]
will then go off to try and write an novel and spend the rest of your
life starting converstations with 'I use to write for The Onion.'"

Andy Borowitz, editor of Borowitzreport.com,
had another take: he thought Schneider was being unintentionally funny.

"I was writing parody news back in the seventies on The Harvard
Lampoon," said Borowitz, pointing to other news parody publications
such as the National Lampoon and Not The York Times, which
was produced by George Plimpton in the 1970s. "The Onion is hardly
a pioneer in this field -- quite the opposite, in fact. They're a very
recent incarnation of a very old form."

"As for 'imitators' -- all writing is an imitation of something,
at least initially. Most writers begin their careers by emulating someone
else they admire. I get mail all of the time from people trying to imitate
my site. Some of them are funny, some are not. I encourage the funny ones.
Why not?"